PITTSFIELD — How long will East Street's temporary pavement last? Parts of it will remain until next year, according to state Department of Transportation spokesperson John Goggin.

The $10 million DOT project will reconstruct a half-mile stretch of East Street, widening portions of the roadway and adding new sidewalks, bike lanes, a raised grass median and landscaping. Though, the project has faced delays due to conflicts with existing utility infrastructure and the detection of PCBs in soil tests.

Drivers prepare to enter the temporary pavement on East Street, which starts shortly after its intersection with Merrill Road and continues just before Lyman Street.

DOT engineer Kevin Moriarty explained at a February Economic Development Authority meeting that, once complete, from Lyman Street to Silver Lake the road will have two lanes in each direction, including a left-turn lane, two bike lanes and two sidewalks. From Silver Lake to the intersection of East Street and Merrill Road, the design calls for two travel lanes, two bike lanes and two sidewalks.

The design is meant to recognize the area as a "Gateway" corridor to downtown Pittsfield.

Portions of the north side of East Street have two utility poles. According to an Eversource spokesperson, the communication cables on the left poles will be transferred to the ones on the right. The shorter poles will then be removed.

The project, which will also replace the road's drainage structure, kicked off with underground utility work that delayed construction "due to conflicts between existing third-party utility duct banks and proposed drainage," Goggin said. He said this pushed back the drainage work by a few months, but the project's expected late summer 2028 completion has not been officially pushed back.

"We do not have a schedule and/or completion date to report at this time, as the aforementioned utility changes have just recently been finalized," Goggin said.

PEDA reported in February that officials from the city and General Electric, whose sprawling 324-acre manufacturing complex once abutted the road, visited the site before the utility work.

"The city and the GE have come out; it appears much of it has been abandoned for some time. Once they remove the concrete lining, they’re not sure what they’ll find underneath," notes from PEDA's Feb. 12 meeting read.

The end of the temporary pavement on East Street, near the road's intersection with Merrill Road in Pittsfield.

The project faced additional delays "due to the presence of contaminated materials, which require additional handling," a May 14 statement from the city said. Goggin confirmed that those materials were PCBs, which were detected during a routine soil test.

According to an Eversource spokesperson, the poles closest to the north side of this section of East Street will be removed once the communication lines on them are transferred to the taller poles to the left.

He said the testing does not "establish the source or place the presence of contaminants into historical context," but helps "determine the scope of the remediation required, which in turn becomes a contractual requirement imposed upon the contractor to address the soil quality."

He did not detail what those requirements were, the level of PCBs detected, or when and where they were found, and did not immediately respond to follow-up questions from The Eagle.

GE used PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, to build power transformers at its Pittsfield factory. PCBs are a probable carcinogen and have been linked to other health problems.

Goggin said that third-party utility relocation work is underway. That has included transferring existing overhead cables from the north side of East Street to its south side between Woodlawn Avenue and Merrill Road.

The edge of the temporary pavement near the intersection of East and Lyman streets.

Why are there two sets of utility poles along the north side of the road from Woodlawn to Lyman? Jamie Ratliff, a spokesperson for Eversource, said that Verizon requested a new utility pole farther back from the road. Eversource has already transferred its equipment to the new poles, with communication wires remaining on the old ones. Once the remaining wires are removed, the shorter poles will be removed, Ratliff said.

Ratliff confirmed that that section of line would remain on the north side of the road.

Goggin said that after third-party utility work wraps up, contractor J.H. Maxymillian is expected to resume consistent on-site work by late summer or early fall.

"This work will include excavation for drainage pipes and structures, which will require the removal of some temporary pavement," Goggin said.

Once that work is complete, the temporary pavement will be patched up until it is completely removed during next year's "full-depth roadway reconstruction," he said, which is expected to start next year.